Writing about Italian Canadian Food Culture

04 Friday Sep 2020

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Bilingual posts, Italocanadesi, Mangiamo!

Tags

AICW, Culinary Culture, Food writing, Gastronomic history, Grano Arso, Italian Canadian Literature, Italocanadese life

The Italian Cultural Institute of Montreal and the Association of Italian Canadian Writers (AICW), as part of a webinar series dedicated to writing, an experience animated by Italian-Canadian authors, translators, journalists, publishers and bloggers, are pleased to present “Can you smell the garlic? Writing About Italian-Canadian Food Culture”

Tuesday, September 8, 2020 – 5:00 pm EST

Nonna stirs tomato sauce bubbling in a cauldron in the garage, papà proudly pours a glass of his homemade wine, zie gather to make taralli and biscotti in the basement kitchen…

These culinary traditions are a treasure trove of material for the Italian-Canadian writer. How does nostalgia affect the relationship to food and writing about food? Push past the clichés, what complicates the rosy images? Is it more difficult to write in a critical or unsentimental mode about food and Italian-Canadian identity?

Domenico Capilongo, Monica Meneghetti, Cristina Pepe and Jim Zucchero will read mouth-watering prose and poetry and talk about the connections between food and their writing. The webinar will be moderated by former restaurant critic, Francesca M. LoDico. The series is hosted by the Secretary of the AICW Executive, Giulia Verticchio.

Event details & bios: https://iicmontreal.esteri.it/iic_montreal/en/gli_eventi/calendario/2020/09/senti-l-aglio-scrivere-sulla-cultura.html

Italiano: https://iicmontreal.esteri.it/iic_montreal/it/gli_eventi/calendario/2020/09/senti-l-aglio-scrivere-sulla-cultura.html

I will be reading about Grano Arso. The webinar will be available to view later on the Istituto Italiano di Cultura-Montreal’s website and Facebook page.

In Italiano:

L’Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Montréal e l’Associazione degli Scrittori italo-canadesi (AICW), nell’ambito della serie di webinar dedicata all’opera della scrittura, un’esperienza animata da autori italocanadesi, traduttori, registi, giornalisti, editori, bloggers…, sono lieti di presentare il webinar intitolato “Senti l’aglio? Scrivere sulla cultura culinaria italocanadese”.

Nonna mescola la salsa di pomodoro che ribolle in un calderone nel garage, papà versa orgoglioso un bicchiere del suo vino fatto in casa, le zie si riuniscono per fare taralli e biscotti nella cucina del seminterrato… Queste tradizioni culinarie sono un tesoro di materiale per lo scrittore italo-canadese. In che modo la nostalgia influenza il rapporto con il cibo e la scrittura sul cibo? Superare i cliché, cosa complica le rosee immagini? È più difficile scrivere in modo critico o non sentimentale sul cibo e sull’identità italo-canadese?

Domenico Capilongo, Monica Meneghetti, Cristina Pepe e Jim Zucchero leggeranno brani e poesie da “leccarsi i baffi” e parleranno delle connessioni tra il cibo e la loro scrittura. Il webinar sarà moderato dal già critico di ristoranti, Francesca M. LoDico. La serie è ospitata dalla Segretaria dell’Esecutivo AICW, Giulia Verticchio.

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Buon appetito, Cristina

Grano Arso in print!

28 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Inspiration

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

AICW, Association of Italian Canadian Writers, C, Gastronomic history, Grano Arso, Italian Canadiana, Laurentian University

My presentation from the September 2017 ‘Italians in Canada: 150+ years’ 31st anniversary AICW conference at Laurentian University in Sudbury Ontario has been published! The proceeds of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers Conference is a special edition of the University of Toronto journal Italian Canadiana (Vol 32 2018). This is not my first publication, but it is the first one that is not about diabetes!

Grano Arso is about a Pugliese gastronomic tradition that honours the resilience of our contadini ancestors. The conference proceedings are not available online, but if you have not already done so, read my 2015 post Grano Arso . It is not exactly the same as the publication, but contains similar information and photos. There has been an increase in views of my post. This may be due to the publication, or because there is not much written in English on the topic. I made some taralli di grano arso for my presentation and carried them with me on the plane to Ontario. Other conference presentations included The evolution of the Italian grocery store, Representations of Italian Canadian Internment during WWII, Italianismi e pseudoitalianismi, and Documenting Italiese, which I will write more about in another post. Creative writing readings by Italocanadese authors included short stories, poetry and excerpts from books and a graphic novel. I reviewed one of the books here.

I don’t know if they have many copies left, but they can be ordered by contacting the Frank Iacobucci Center for Italian Canadian Studies c/o Dept of Italian Studies, University of Toronto 100 St. Joseph St. Toronto, Ontario M5S 1J4 or contact salvatore.bancheri@utoronto.ca.

The next AICW conference will be in Italia in 2020. Details will be available soon!

Ciao, Cristina